[spectre] CONF: Frederick Kiesler. Arts and Correalities (Vienna, 20 Oct 22)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Anna Fliri
Date: Oct 7, 2022
Subject: CONF: Frederick Kiesler. Arts and Correalities (Vienna, 20 Oct 22)

Auditorium, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7, 
1030 Vienna, Oct 20, 2022

Frederick Kiesler. Arts and Correalities
Symposium

Thursday, October 20, 2022, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Auditorium, University of Applied Arts Vienna Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7, 
1030 Vienna

Concept by Gerd Zillner and Wolfgang Fiel

One-day symposium in collaboration with the University of Applied Arts 
Vienna, marking the 25th anniversary of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation 
based in Vienna.

In the 1930s, Frederick Kiesler (1890-1965) developed the theory of 
Correalism as a transdisciplinary research method in architecture and 
design. It was based on the latest findings of systems theory, biology 
and the technical sciences and has called for the combination of 
empirical scientific research, holistic human-centred design 
(Correalism) and the practical testing of emergent knowledge (Biotechnique).
Kiesler’s neologism contains the terms co-realism and correlation, 
referring to the interrelation of three environments: the natural, the 
human and the technical environment. The human being is at the centre of 
these interrelations, which Kiesler also refers to as interacting 
forces. Having published the ground-breaking article “On Correalism and 
Biotechnique” in 1939, Kiesler’s Correalism- research in the 1940s and 
1950s focused on the critique of “pseudo-functionalism” and modernism, 
which he saw as favouring the “arbitrary separation of architecture into 
art, technology and economy.”
With his work at the Laboratory for Design Correlation at Columbia 
University (1937-1941), Kiesler is considered a visionary pioneer of 
artistic teaching, trans-, inter- and cross-disciplinary work, as well 
as a trailblazer for artistic research.
The symposium emphasises the need of challenging the new pragmatism in 
architecture by re- visiting prospective scenarios of the past and 
imagining an archaeology of the future.
The 20th century was characterised by bold future scenarios, often 
discredited as utopian, in which architects claimed a central role in 
the analysis and design of social transformation. The “new” problem 
awareness developed under the influence of cybernetics and systems 
theory led to a paradigmatic expansion of the associated range of tasks.
In order to meet the complex challenges of the present with viable 
concepts for alternative “futures”, it is important to “tune-in” with 
those who paradigmatically stood for a critical and reflexive opening of 
the profession toward other disciplines. In addition to Frederick 
Kiesler, Richard Buckminster Fuller and Victor Papanek, among others, 
anticipated much of what is now called trans- or interdisciplinary 
working methods. Kiesler, Fuller and Papanek exemplify the synthesis of 
art, humanistic design, and technological innovation.

The lectures will be held in English.

Program

9.30 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Get Together

10 a.m. – 10.30 a.m.
Welcome and introduction
Rector Gerald Bast (University of Applied Arts Vienna) and
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (board members of the Frederick Kiesler 
Foundation)

10.30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Co-Realities: Clarification of terms
Correalism. Articles, Manifestos, Manuscripts: Gerd Zillner (Director, 
Friedrich Kiesler Stiftung)
Correalism: Laura McGuire (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
News from the Archive of the Visionary: The Vision Machine: Dieter 
Bogner, Founding President Frederick Kiesler Foundation
Heretical Modernism: Frederick Kieslers Framework of a “Design Science” 
Gerd Hasenhütl (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Discussion

1 – 2 p.m. Lunch Break

2 – 3.30 p.m.
Correlations: Historical context
Fuller-Kiesler-Lönberg Holm. The Structural Study connection and SHELTER 
Magazine, 1932: Joachim Krausse (Berlin)
Victor Papanek and Frederick Kiesler: A Real and Imagined Relationship: 
Alison Clark (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
„Menschen, Kunst und Architektur. Ein Manifest des Korrealismus“. 
Frederick Kiesler‘s Response to Sigfried Giedion and the 6th 
CIAM-Congress 1947: Almut Grunewald (gta Archive, ETH Zurich)
Discussion

3.30 – 4 p.m. Coffee Break

4 – 4.15 p.m.
Presentation: INTRA Applied Correlation Laboratory, Doris Krüger 
(University of Applied Arts Vienna)

4.15 – 5.45 p.m.
Archeology of the future//Prospective scenarios of the past: Activation 
for the here and now, current discourse
Intro: Wolfgang Fiel (iCP, University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Homo spatius, Barbara Imhof (LIQUIFER Systems Group)
Lucie Strecker (Artist and Researcher)

5.45 – 6 p.m. Break

6 – 7 p.m.
Final Discussion (Moderation Stefan Hilpold)

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CONF: Frederick Kiesler. Arts and Correalities (Vienna, 20 Oct 22). In: 
ArtHist.net, Oct 7, 2022. <https://arthist.net/archive/37606>.